Pew Research Center: Analysis of people who use mobile devices to read news

On the afternoon of December 11, 2012, the latest report from the Pew Research Center in the United States showed that people of all ages are willing to read or watch news through smartphones and tablets. However, men and people with college degrees have the strongest sense of participation.

Young people today have different attitudes toward technology than older generations, and Pew's report was designed to understand how people consume news using tablets and smartphones. The agency found that younger and older users are roughly the same in their willingness to get news on mobile devices.

“While younger generations are less likely to engage with news overall and have generally abandoned print news products, young people are getting news on mobile devices to the same extent as older users,” the report said. “When getting news on apps, young people say they prefer an experience that is similar to print products rather than high-tech effects or multimedia features.”

Pew's survey sample was 9,500 American adults from June to August this year. Although the agency found similarities between different age groups, there are also differences. For example, young users are more willing to get news through videos and are more willing to click on ads.

Younger tablet users are more likely to interact with ads. Among tablet consumers, the probability of touching or clicking on ads while viewing news decreases with age. 25% of tablet news users aged 18 to 29 sometimes click on ads, compared to only 12% of tablet news users aged 30 to 49 and only 7% of those aged 50 to 64.

Men, especially younger men, consume more mobile news than women. 43% of male tablet users use their devices to read news every day, compared to only 32% of women. The same difference is true for smartphones. On tablets specifically, male users check news more frequently and are more likely to read in-depth reports and watch news videos.

Education level is also associated with mobile news consumption behavior. People with a college degree are more likely to consume news through mobile apps and read in-depth reports on tablets. Among those with a college degree, 82% of tablet news users read in-depth reports, compared to only 66% of those with less than a college degree.

“This report paints a broad picture of how mobile news users differ from one another,” Pew acting director Amy Mitchell said in a statement. “Understanding these differences is critical for news organizations as they work to keep users engaged with their news.”

Another report released by Pew in September this year showed that news consumption through mobile devices and social media has also increased in recent years. According to the survey at that time, 39% of people said they would check news through the Internet, higher than 33% two years ago. The popularity of mobile devices and social networks has become one of the driving factors for this trend.